Markus High

Chapter Twelve

Zyta's POV:

I snapped awake. The voice had said something to me.

"What?" I asked, hoping it would repeat itself.

"I got your friend. Have fun figuring out which one," it said. I jumped out of bed, my muscles protesting as I did, and stuck out of the room. Markus had crept out of his room as well. His white hair was tousled, which made him even cuter. I shook the thought out of my head. No. It did not make him look cuter. 

We made eye contact before he made a gesture which I interpreted as, "Did you get that, too?"

I nodded.

He made another gesture with his arms, probably trying to ask, "What did that mean?"

I shook my head. I had no idea. "Annalee?" I mouthed at him and he nodded back. 

I walked down the hall quietly before knocking on Annalee's door. She didn't reply. I opened the door, using my experience with sneaking out of my house to make it silent. I crept into Annalee's room but froze as I heard Markus kick something. I slowly turned my head and glared at him. He shrugged in apology and we continued. 

We we got to Annalee's bed I expected not to see her laying there, but she was there, and she was asleep, though something about her seemed different. Slowly her eyelids opened and then it clicked. Her hair and eyes were slightly different shades then they had been before!

"Uh, hey guys, what's up?" she asked nervously. I thought I heard her whisper something else.

"Uh... nothing," I said, then grabbed Markus's wrist and dragged him out of the room then into my room where we could talk and not be heard. "Did you hear her whisper under her breath? I bet she's got a voice in her head, too," I said, instantly regretting saying the word "too" when the voice popped into my head again. 

"Don't tell anyone!" it shrieked. I put my hand to the side of my head as if it would stop the painful throbbing. Markus looked at my in concern, looking like he wanted to talk about the voices but wasn't able to.

"And did you notice her hair and eye color change?" I whispered. "It changed. Maybe not dramatically, but in the faint light in her room I could see the difference. I bet that John guy got rid of all the kinks in his machine and used it on her after it was perfect."

"Kinks?"

"I bet that's why our hair is white and we hear... voices."

"Don't tell him!" it repeated. I squeezed my eyes shut, blocking out the pain.

"I'll tell who I want to tell, thanks very much," I insisted to the voice before realizing I'd been talking out loud and paused. "Uh..." is all I said, but I knew Markus understood what was going on.

"We can talk about this tomorrow," he said quietly before walking out of the room. I lay back on my bed and sighed. Things were so complicated.

The next day I ended up going to school despite my various protests. Markus had dragged me onto the bus. He seemed happier now, like he'd been struggling with the voice less that usual. 

I was wearing a hoodie this time, trying what Markus had tried to hide his hair, though in first period I was told to take the hood off. Everyone gawked, and I knew just how Markus had felt when he'd showed off his hair for the first time.

"What's up with you losers and your white hair?" an annoying kid asked. "What, did Markus start a trend?"

That had been the only incident until lunch. Markus and I were sitting at a table in the corner of the lunchroom, talking more about Annalee.  We didn't mention the voices, since that wouldn't end well, but they were implied. I glanced towards the center of the lunchroom as the lights started flickering madly.